Anarchy's Mystery

Chapter 10

"Sorry I'm late, family kept me." Natalie hurried into the Council room, her hair flying loose around her shoulders and her jacket in her arms, with her bag hanging off her shoulder. She tossed her bag and jacket onto the floor and set to tying her hair back in a messy bun.

"No worries, we just had some news we thought we'd share with you." Tsunami announced as Natalie's hands sank to her sides and her eyes narrowed.

"Good news, or bad news?" She cautionarily asked.

"Good." Blacklight smiled at her. "We found you a street patrol group to join for the time being." Natalie returned the smile.

"Cool, which group?"

"Adrian's group lost a member - Danna - at the parade, and are short a person right now. They're thinking about finding someone at tryouts, but want a replacement for the time being. That replacement is you."
"Oh cool. Thank you so much. When do I start?" She replied, a grin formed on her face.

"Well, I guess you can start now, if you'd like. That is, if the team is still here for today." Simon added.

"Thanks, I'll go find them!" Natalie turned and hurried out of her old workplace for a new start. A fresh start. Where hopefully, she wouldn't be judged for who her dad was. Hopefully, they would never find out, but, seeing as Adrian's dads were the original people who accused her of it to begin with, that hope was very shallow. She slipped through the shadows of the corridors until she reached the training room, where she took a deep breath and slid between the heavy doors.

Natalie still didn't wear the Renegade uniform everyone else wore, instead she opted to wear her black leggings, dark grey t-shirt and mottled grey jacket. She kept a spare change of clothes not too different than the ones she already wore in her backpack, but these were more common with her favourite band logo and a pair of jeggings with her old scuffed converse that she wore on a daily basis - an old present from her mom's friend. Natalie hung in the shadows of the room, her hood pulled up, casting her face in shadow as she searched the room for her new teammates. To anyone looking in her direction that actually saw her in the shadows, all they would be able to see under her hood was the whites of her eyes. She spotted the group she was looking for, and started walking over to them when she heard a voice say, "Don't blow it. Your last chance is arriving soon."

Natalie slammed her eyes shut and sighed, freezing where she stood. "Back OFF!" She almost yelled, but everyone around her was too focused on their training to notice her. Or so she thought, until a hand landed on her shoulder and she screamed and jumped around to face the person.

"Hey, calm down, it's just me." Again, no one had noticed her and the person who was talking to. "You okay? You look like you saw a ghost." They joked, a small smile on their face until they saw the look Natalie returned. It was a mix of devastation, horror, shock, and also a bit of joy. But then they all made way for anger, and she turned away from everyone in the training room, grabbed the person by their arm and dragged them with her until she left the headquarters. She pulled them into an alleyway and shoved them farther down the alley, so her back was to the street.

"What the hell are you doing here?" She slowly asked, glaring. "I swear, I'm so close to killing you already, don't test me." She placed her hands on her hips and ushered them further down the alley when people passed.

"Well, it might be dumb to say, but I really missed you...?" They tentatively replied.

"Yeah, you're right. That was dumb." She sneered in return, a glare still on her face.

"Can you just let me speak!" The other person snapped. "I did miss you, but I couldn't come back. I've wanted to see you the past few years, and I saw your sister this morning-"

"Leave Samantha alone. She doesn't need to be fooled with your trickery and lies, like you fooled me. Like you fooled everyone." Natalie threatened.

"Just let me-"

"No! You have no place to be making demands. I could have the Council themselves here in less than 5 minutes if I wanted to. And who do you have? Your little pug? If that old, mangy thing is still alive."

"Don't threaten me Nat. I may have changed in the time since I last saw you, but you have too. The girl that I remember would have been thrilled to have her old mate back."

"Well that girl is gone! So much has changed since you left and there's so much that you just don't - and won't - understand."

"You make it sound like I had a choice to leave!" The other person argued, getting angry.

"You've always had a choice!" Natalie yelled, on the verge of tears. "From the moment you first made acquaintance with the Jackals, you had a choice!"

"What's going on down here?" A voice called from the entrance to the lane. Natalie spun around to find the source of the voice, a stray tear slipping down her cheek. She saw Adrian's group on the street, and spun back around to the person, but by then they were nowhere to be found.